Channeling rivers and other navigable streams



(No Model.) S

D. SPANGLER.

GHANNELING RIVERS AND OTHER NAVIGABLE STREAMS.

No. 275,952. Patented Apr. 17,1883.

l I l INVENTOR:

V" J. Bi /MW R I TTDRNEYS.

NrrE 'rn'rns PATENT FFIC-E.

DANIEL SPANGLER, OF HANFORD, CALIFORNIA.

v CHANNELING RIVERS AND OTHER NAVIGABLE STREAMS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 275,952, dated April 1'7, 1883.

Application filed December 27, 1882. (N0 model.) a

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, DANIEL SPANGLER, of Hanford, in the county of Tulare and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Channeling Rivers and other Navigable Streams, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of this invention is to deepen and restrict to a given course or direction the channels of rivers and other navigable streams, whereby not only submerged land may be re- .clai med, but a fixed deep channel is available at all times for navigable purposes, and the destruction of property consequent upon deviations in the course of the stream, or inundations arising from the spreading of it, are avoided. It is well known that the depth of all streams is governed by their width and the solidity of their banks; and my'invention consists in a pile-and-panel structure arranged to form a walled-in course or channel extending up and down the stream, and built up in sections of any given length, each of which is funnel-shaped at its one end, extending to the banks of the stream, and receives within it the straight or outletend of the next succeeding section, with a wash or space between the sections where they enter one within the other.

The invention also includes special constructions and combinations of parts, includingdouble-grooved piles for reception, and a selfadjustingorself-lowering manner of the boards or planks which form the walls of the watercourse or channel, substantially as hereinafter described. I r

By this invention a stream may be secured out to almost any desired depth.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 represents a plan of a river-course, in part, with my invention applied. Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the line 00 0c in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan view, upon a larger scale, of portions of two of the sections of the walledin structure by which the channel is deepened and restricted in width; and Fig. 4 is a View in perspective, in part, of one of the grooved piles, with boards or planks fitted therein.

A A in the drawings indicate the banks of a river the channel of which it is required to deepen and restrict in width.

B B represent two rows of piles driven into the bed of the river and arranged at a suitable distance apart, the two rows corresponding with the width of the channel-to be deepened, and said piles being at any desired distance apartin each row. For purposes of illustration, although I do not restrict myself to any particular dimensions, the piles B, which will here be denominated the main piles, may be supposed to be sixteen or seventeen feet apart from center to center in each row, and the two rows of said piles be at such a distance apart as will reduce the stream from onethird to one-half of its natural width. These piles, which may be from forty to fifty feet in lengtlnrhave grooves I) 1) down their opposite sides, which head in direction of the stream. Within these grooves are freely fitted panels 0, that may be formed of two-inch planks mounted one upon the other edgewise, and constituting, in connection with the piles,the walls of the artificial water-course .erected within the stream. Said panels may be started at twelve feet in height, more or less, according to the depth of the stream.

Outside of the main piles B are other, or counter piles, D,united with the main piles by braces E, to give additional strength and stiffness to the structure.

The artificial water-course thus constructed may be built in sections of from one to six miles in length, more or less, and the end, which lies up the stream, of each of said sections is made funnel-shaped, or with wings extending to or near the banks of the river. These flaring-shaped upper ends of said sections serve to receive within them the lower or outlet ends of each upper connecting-section, with lateral washes or water-ways G'between the entering and receiving ends of the sections. The natural width of the stream being reduced, as described, the water is forced or rushes between two solid walls, and as the sand or material. forming the bed of the river is drawn or sucked out by the force of the current from beneath the panels 0, said panels will slide or slip downward till they come to the bottom of the grooves in the main piles, after which, it necessary, the piles may be driven still deeper into the bed of the river, and additional panels be placed on top of those already in the grooves of the main piles.

By this improvement there will be no difiiculty in forcing the river through any sized channel that may be desired. Where the flaring upper ends of the sections are extended to the banks of the river, boat-landings may be formed and connecting branches or structures from the sides of the sections be extended thereto. Suitable trees may also be planted along the banks of the river, that in course of time, as their growth increases, will induce such a filling up as will restrict the stream to its prescribed limits.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In deepening and determining or fixing the channels of rivers and other streams, a walled-in water-course arranged to extend up and down the stream, and composed of piles and panels built up in sections of any desired length, and with the upper end of each section made flaring toward the banks of the river, and receiving the outlet or lower end of the contiguous or upper connecting-section freely within it, substantially as specified.

2. In a combination of sectionally-constructed walled-in water-courses in which the outlet or lower end of each section is arranged to enter within flaring sides at the upper or receiving end of the connectingsection, the washes or watercourses G between such enterin g and receiving ends of said sections, essentially as described.

3. In a walled-in water-course for rivers and streams, the combination of the piles B, having grooves b 1) down their opposite sides, and the panels 0, composed of planks or boards resting one upon the other loosely within said grooves, whereby said panels are made selfadjusting, substantially as specified.

4. The combination of the counter-piles D and braces E with the main double-grooved piles B and loosely-fitting panels 0, essentially as shown and described.

DANIEL SPANGLER.

\Vitnesses:

H. J. BLEDsoE,

F. J. WALKER. 

